so that you can feel
the weight of your arms, your legs
and your body slipping away.
it's a pleasant sensation.
you're free of everything holding you back.
you can think with perfect, crystal clarity.
your name is loraine gustin.
but you've had other names before this, other lives.
they're buried deep inside.
but now as you begin to float freely
they start to rise up within you.
you can see them clearly.
now...
search them
for the most significant memory of your past lives.
open your thoughts
and let the sights and sounds come in.
i'm sewing.
i work in a dressmaker's shop.
good, what year is it?
a long time ago.
okay, good.
look around you.
what do you see? what's happening?
they're shouting... at the door.
men with guns. they're wearing uniforms.
red... british... british soldiers.
they... they say they know we're hiding revolutionaries.
i keep telling them no.
we only make dresses.
we haven't seen... but...
they don't believe us.
they don't believe me.
they... torches...
torches... they're setting...
the shop on fire.
they won't let us out.
it's all right, mrs. Gustin.
listen to me.
it's all right.
the fire is disappearing.
you're safe.
it's going away.
everything is as it was.
yes.
you're starting to come back.
you're floating back down.
you can feel the weight returning
to your legs and your arms.
i'll touch your hand, and when i do
you will awaken feeling refreshed
and you will remember everything you've seen.
one,
two,
three.
i don't know how to thank you, ms. mcneal.
i feel better than i've been in years.
for the first time, i understand
why i'm so afraid of fire and men in uniforms.
and to think it was a memory
and from so long ago.
if we all knew we'd lived before,
and if we could remember those past lives,
we'd understand ourselves better.
maybe we'd be kinder to one another
knowing that in a previous life
we were poor or hurting or hungry.
thank you so much.
you're welcome.
have you ever tried yourself?
it's ironic, i suppose.
i've never been able to remember any of my own past lives.
but i keep trying every day.
someday, who knows.
mary mcneal,
dealer in dreams and memories,
to whom the uncovering of past lives
is the greatest good she can render
to a forgetful humanity.
mary (on recorder): your name is mary mcneal,
but you have had other names before this, other lives.
8:57 p.m. and mary mcneal makes another attempt
to discover a previous life.
however, the journey she is about to take
is to a different place—
a land whose borders are defined
by the region we call the twilight zone.
now search them for the most significant memory
of all of your past lives.
now search them for the most significant memory
of all of your past lives.
nothing again.
well, at least i got some sleep.
mrs. Vivencore, i'm so sorry.
it's the oldest excuse in the world,
but i overslept and rushed withoutthinkingto call.
excuse me, but have we met?
of course, we made the appointment by phone.
i'm mary mcneal.
you called me last week
about wanting help with your memory?
you must be mistaken.
there's nothing wrong with my memory.
what i meant was the memory of your lives beforethisone.
i assure you it's a simple process.
in my last life i was corporal lon desmond.
i fought in the second world war
and won the medal of honor,
awarded posthumously, of course.
but you know?
how?
the medal?
it was nothing.
i jumped on a grenade to save my squad.
but that's amazing. how did you know that?
i really don't have time
for this sort of foolishness.
thank you and good day.
i had the same problem in my last life.
man, just my luck to get stuck like that
two lifetimes in a row.
you know, how is it going with you?
excuse me, miss, can i help you?
this used to be my office.
that must've been some time ago.
i've been here for two years.
what can i do for you?
thiswasyour office?
you're out of work?
it's difficult to explain.
i woke up this morning,
and i don't know what's happening anymore.
i don't know if i've changed or the world's changed
but something's happened.
i don't even know why i'm bothering you with this.
it's just that there's nobody else for me to talk to.
yes, there is.
you're not alone.
many people have trouble
adjusting to their new lives.
that's why we're here.
fill out this form, then we'll talk.
i'm jim sinclair.
i'll be at that desk.
excuse me.
what's a regression therapist?
it's nothing.
i don't think it matters anymore.
relationship counselor.
self-help instructor.
two years as head of a crisis counseling unit.
you have a high priority on helping others.
an admirable quality.
you didn't list anything
from previous lives.
i didn't know you could.
it helps, particularly
when you've developed no skills in this life.
if we can run through the jobs you had
in your last three or four lifetimes.
we won't go back more than a couple hundred years.
there's not much call
for blacksmiths.
um... i've always felt
i must have lived during the depression.
felt?
i'm always moved
when i see pictures from that time,
as if i knew what those people were feeling?
could you give me references for this life?
name some people you might have known.
i really don't remember.
addresses?
marriages? schools?
technical? liberal? anything at all?
if you won't help me, i can't help you.
i didn't say i wouldn't.
listen, i'm sorry i took so much of your time.
thank you for your help.
sinclair here.
i just had a woman in here
who listed only her present life on her resume.
when i pressed her for details on her past lives
she claimed she couldn't remember them.
no, i don't think she's a new soul.
she didn't have that vacant look so many of them have.
mary mcneal.
yes, i agree.
she could be the one we're looking for.
so her behavior was significant?
a lot of people disapprove of what we do.
doesn't sound like disapproval.
it was more like shock—
as if she'd never seen such a thing before.
it's possible she's been out of circulation awhile.
that happens. And then there is the other possibility.
so we discussed, but i'm not ready
to accept that theory.
there's something wrong here,
and i think she's hiding something.
before we do anything, we must be certain.
will you bring her in?
if we don't decide to kill her first.
miss?
miss, are you okay?
go away.
let me die in peace.
i'll go get help.
no.
no. you know the law.
anybody who wants to die, can die.
it's my right, and you can't take it away.
i've chosen exposure, malnutrition, sleeping pills.
it's a lot cleaner than a bullet, isn't it?
guns scare me.
a lot of things scare me.
why do you want to die?
in my last life, i had a nice job
a nice family.
people liked me.
can you imagine that?
but now look.
look at me!
look at this body i was born in.
i have tried everything
and nothing works.
i'm going to start over.
i'd like to sleep now.
no.
what do you care?
i care plenty.
not because of what you look like or who you are,
but because you're needed in this lifetime.
surrendering is wrong.
you're needed in the here and now
not in your next lifetime.
nobody needs me.
ineed you.
it seems i don't have anyone
or anything.
maybe we could start over together.
can you give me that chance?
can you give me
that much?
i'll go get help.
i'll be right back.
there's a woman back there.
get an ambulance.
i think she's dying.
you're the man from the agency.
no!
you must come with us.
no!
promise me you'll get her an ambulance.
i promise.
okay, let's go.
what about the woman?
what about her?
i made a promise.
get her an ambulance.
who are you?
why are you doing this to me?
call us concerned citizens, ms. mcneal.
we're part of a group
not quite sanctioned by our government
but not entirely denied, either.
we play hide-and-seek.
we seek out people like you.
your kind.
what kind is that?
that's what we've brought you here to determine.
who are you, ms. mcneal?
really?
i've heard you claim not to know who you were
in your previous lives.
you must understand that'squiteirregular.
it's utterly unheard of.
and we can find no documentation on you.
no identity papers.
no place of residence.
it's as if you did not exist.
and if you do not exist, then no one will miss you.
so you see
it's in your best interest to cooperate with us.
what are you trying to hide?
who were you in your previous lives?
i told you, i don't remember.
remember... remember what?
names?
places?
body counts?
have you been to moscow lately?
guyana? uganda?
what names did you go by in your past lives?
the borgias? attila the hun?
lady macbeth?
we can run down the whole bloody litany
if you like
if it helps to jog your failing memory.
haven't seen adolph in a while.
is a littlefuhrer hiding in there?
leave me alone.
she could be the truth.
if she's who we're looking for...
not in front of her.
if she's telling the truth, we'll find out soon enough.
when we went to daddy's funeral
mommy said we should be brave.
i wore my new blue dress.
i read a poem that i wrote myself.
after it was over, mommy said we had to move...
go earlier.
i don't know.
who were you?
i don't remember.
i'm doubling the serum.
that could kill her.
we'll have to chance that.
welcome back, ms. mcneal.
oh, my head.
it will soon pass.
you were telling the truth.
we're sorry we had to put you through that.
you're free to go.
just like that?
what about my life?
what? sorry, wrong number?
hang up and walk away like nothing happened?
precisely, ms. mcneal.
unless, of course, you would care to work for us.
i'll see you in hell first.
sinclair, get her some water.
we're offering you a very rare chance
to go from a prisoner
to a savior.
you are a healer.
we ask you to help us heal.
we want you to help us forget.
forget who, and what
and where we were.
you're out of your mind.
perhaps i am.
maybe we all are.
look around you.
did you smell the madness out there?
it gets worse with every generation.
you can smell the death.
the death that we needn't fear because we come back
but which is with us from the cradle to the grave.
think of dying, and the new agony of rebirth.
you remember it all.
we're so busy avenging the past
that we lose the present.
that's the world we live in.
that's the waking horror that's our everyday existence.
what can i do to help you?
you have a gift.
we need you to teach us that gift.
you can help us
let the past be swallowed by silence.
no more carrying grudges across the centuries.
no more longing for lives past.
just the moment.
and the thrill of making this life
as good as it can be.
we've waited so long for you.
if we were harsh
it was out of fear and hope.
when we first met,
i knew you wanted to help people.
we're giving you the greatest opportunity
ever given a person.
help us.
help us to forget.
your name is ruth warden.
that is the only name you will remember.
let the memories of your past lives fade.
when you awaken
you will remember only that you are ruth warden.
you will begin your life with a fresh start.
mary mcneal, who set out on a voyage of discovery
that brought her home again by a most curious route.
now appointed guardian of doors best kept sealed
in the mirror-mirror world of the twilight zone.